


valentine - a seblos oneshot <3

by musicaltheatrewannabe



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: :))))), M/M, Short Circuiting Carlos Rodriguez, its great to be in love on valentines day, theatre husbands, yeehaw_baby is canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:20:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22697767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicaltheatrewannabe/pseuds/musicaltheatrewannabe
Summary: a lil valentine's fic because seblos owns valentine's day:D
Relationships: Seb Matthew-Smith/Carlos Rodriguez
Comments: 23
Kudos: 62





	valentine - a seblos oneshot <3

**Author's Note:**

> due to popular demand, seb is playing belle and Carlos is still just choreographing for the purposes of this fic (hi diner friends)

Carlos tried to conceal the skip in his step as he fast-walked down the hallway, clutching a single red rose to his chest. It was Valentine’s Day and he had received a text from Seb on his way to school telling him to go straight to his locker before class. He didn’t know what his boyfriend had in store for him, but he barely had time to wonder as he raced past all of the other lockers, fueled by anticipation.

When Carlos turned the corner and didn’t see Seb he was confused, but he approached his locker anyways. After taking a few steps closer, he saw that a little pink heart-shaped sticky note was attached to its door and he felt his cheeks go red. The note read: “turn around:) - valentine”

Carlos whipped around and shoved his rose behind his back – he wanted to maintain a little bit of the element of surprise, even if Seb was definitely doing more in that department. His mouth dropped open when he saw his boyfriend approaching and holding an identical red rose. “Happy Valentine’s Day!” Seb beamed, holding out the rose.

Carlos couldn’t help but chuckle and Seb cocked his head in response. Without a word, Carlos held his rose out from behind his back, earning a laugh from the blonde boy. “Happy Valentine’s Day to you, my Belle!” Carlos smiled, but his boyfriend didn’t seem to catch on.

They grinned in amusement as they swapped their nearly identical roses, and finally Seb noticed the little yellow ribbon that Carlos had tied around the stem of his. He let out a soft gasp and met Carlos’ eyes again. “Oh my God, this is so cute, thank you!” he rubbed the ribbon absentmindedly and Carlos felt a little burst of pride.

“And thank you!” Carlos leaned back against his locker because he wasn’t sure that he could fully support his own weight with Seb being this adorable. And he hadn’t even begun his first class. He had no idea how he was going to make it through their dinner date, but he could also tell that he wanted the day to last forever.  
“So I guess this really just proves that we’re theatre nerds, huh?” Seb suggested.

“Honestly, we should have seen this coming,” Carlos shrugged and gestured with his new rose in reference to their Beauty and the Beast themed gifts for each other.

Seb let out a soft giggle – barely that, it was more like a huff of air as he scrunched his nose – and Carlos short circuited. “Great minds think alike, right?” Seb bit his lip and it was more than his helpless boyfriend could take.

All Carlos could think to do was pull Seb toward him by his jacket collar for a quick kiss. “Great minds,” he smiled, and quickly turned to put the rose away in his locker. The perfect tingling sensation of the kiss lingered on Carlos’ lips as he took Seb’s hand and they walked toward class together.

.

Carlos nodded to Ashlyn who gave him a wave as he approached her lunch table. Most of the theatre kids were in the later lunch period, but Carlos still had Ash, Steph and Rico to sit with. He walked up to the seat next to her and set down his tray, but she pointed knowingly at the seat across from her instead, locking her phone and setting it down. Carlos followed her gaze and saw a heart sticky note identical to the one that had been on his locker in the morning.

“Oh my God,” he mumbled and blushed, hurrying around to the other side of the table.

“Honored to be the messenger,” Ash grinned as Carlos picked up the note. He felt his heart start to race when he read the note: “check your phone:) - valentine”

Carlos whipped his phone out of his pocket and saw a brand new notification: “yeehaw_baby tagged you in a post”

He opened the app and found the new post on Seb’s finsta, seeing that there were several pictures. He fell into a stunned silence as he swiped through the images, his smile growing impossibly wider at each one.

The first was a picture of himself with a soft smile and his eyes focused on Seb somewhere above the camera. He remembered that November day, what it had looked like from his side of the table at Starbucks after school. He had never seen the picture before. The second was a selfie Seb had taken of the two of them at the High School Musical cast party. Seb was grinning at the camera while Carlos attached the Choosical winner pin to Seb’s white button-up, his brows furrowed in concentration. He chuckled softly at how serious he looked in the photo, but was also reminded of how lucky he was to have Seb and their entire theatre family in his life. The next picture was another selfie – this one Carlos remembered taking. He had his eyes squeezed shut and a wide smile plastered across his face as Seb pressed a kiss to his cheek. The fourth installment in the post was a dark, blurry picture that showed Carlos frowning out from under a makeshift blanket hood on the couch during one of their movie nights. He couldn’t remember what had led up to the picture, but he also couldn’t rationalize any of his behavior after midnight. After this picture there was a short video from one of their rehearsals, and Carlos had to turn the volume all the way up to hear it in the loud cafeteria. In the video he posed in front of the camera, lip-syncing to “Bop to the Top” while Seb tried to practice his choreography in the background of the shot. A few seconds in, Carlos ran over and twirled Seb, who laughed and yelled “stop, I’m trying to concentrate!” Carlos let the video loop a few times, subconsciously memorizing the pitch landscape of Seb’s voice in that single phrase, before swiping to the final picture. He let out a laugh when he saw that it was just the blurry blanket picture again, except zoomed in on his face this time. Finally, he felt his heart swell as he read the caption: “for the boy who makes me smile this valentine’s<3”

Carlos typed out a quick comment with the first thing that entered his head. He looked at his screen and saw that all he had posted was “SEB.” He figured he should add something to that for context, so he posted a second comment: “i love you so much<3”

After watching all of this in amusement, Ash grinned. “Someone’s smitten,” she remarked, bringing Carlos back to the lunch table.

“You’re one to talk!” Carlos retorted in defense. She and Big Red had been acting all lovey-dovey all day as well.

“Sure, sure…” Ash rolled her eyes and took a bite of her sandwich.

Carlos wasn’t willing to accept her dismissal. “This is not my fault, look at what he did!!” he held the phone up to her face, frantically scrolling through the pictures.

She raised her eyebrows, gently pushing his hand back so she could actually see the screen. She nodded in agreement and said, “he truly is a yeehaw baby.”

“Thank you!” Carlos brought his phone triumphantly back towards him and swiped through the photos again, grinning down at the screen. “He’s my yeehaw baby,” he muttered with a shameless blush.

Ash let out an exasperated sigh as Steph and Rico arrived at the table. “Thank God you guys are here,” she said as they set their trays down, “Carlos is in love and I don’t think I could’ve handled it on my own much longer.”

.

Seb was on his way to the library for his free period after lunch when he felt his phone buzz in his back pocket. When he took it out he saw a text from Carlos asking to meet him in the rehearsal room, so he immediately spun on his heel and dashed down the hallway in the opposite direction.

He slowed down as he approached the room in question, gingerly pushing the door open to find Carlos dancing around the room, muttering counts of eight and lyrics to himself. After letting himself watch the other boy for a few moments, he spoke up. “Hi!” he smiled softly.

Carlos glanced up at the door and grinned. “Hey Valentine!”

Seb blushed at his use of the nickname from the notes and closed the door behind him. “Did you want my help with choreo?”

Carlos stopped after doing a few more moves. “Yes,” he clasped his hands together, “I’ve been working on the Belle and Beast slow dance and I wanted to run a couple of things by you.”

“Ok!” Seb swung his bag off of his shoulders and set it down against the wall, staying there and watching Carlos expectantly.

Carlos laughed and shook his head, holding out his hand in invitation. “Oh!” Seb flushed red and hurried over to his boyfriend, taking his hand. Carlos’ lifted Seb’s arm to place his hand on his shoulder and wrapped his own around to rest on Seb’s lower back. 

“So I’ve got the beginning of the verse down,” Carlos guided him in the first few steps, muttering instructions and lyrics once again. Seb was whisked away and utterly entranced by him. He tried his best to follow him in the steps around the room, despite tripping over his feet a few times.

After Seb had learned the first few counts of eight, Carlos paused. “Ok, so for this next bit,” he began, his eyes narrowing in concentration, “should it be spin, spin, spin, dip?” He demonstrated the moves as he spoke, twirling Seb three times and then catching him in a dip. Seb knew that his cheeks were red but he didn’t have time to react or even process before Carlos had pulled him back up again. “Or spin, spin, out, in?” Carlos continued and demonstrated the moves again, so unbelievably casually that Seb was an absolute mess. This version had ended with Seb’s back pressed up against Carlos’ chest, his arms wrapped in front of the blonde boy and holding him close with both of his hands. They stayed completely still, and with their bodies already touching in so many places, Seb only craved more contact. Feeling the strongest urge to kiss Carlos, he craned his neck around and pressed his lips to the other boy’s without hesitation.

Seb pulled away and teased with a grin, “I think I like this second option.”

Without responding, Carlos let go of Seb’s hands and planted them on his shoulders to spin him around and kiss him again. Seb was vaguely grateful for the shift to this more comfortable position, but this thought was quickly abandoned as he wrapped his arms around his boyfriend and was distracted by the seemingly infinite landscape of his back through the thin layer of fabric beneath his fingertips.

Another thought intruded on Seb’s mind and he pulled away with a little hesitation. “You know,” he began, but Carlos kept pressing kisses to his lips and cheeks between his words, “we should feel a bit guilty about abusing our power like this.” Carlos cocked an eyebrow at him, but only for a moment, before returning to the task at hand. “I just mean, since Miss Jenn gave you a key to this room?” Seb explained, batting his eyes at his boyfriend in feigned innocence.

Carlos fixed him a look dead in the eye. “Honey, it’s Valentine’s Day,” he said, as if that answered everything.

“Ok, you’re right,” Seb rolled his eyes, his mouth breaking out into a smile again. He hovered his mouth over Carlos’ and added, “and besides, it is a little thrilling,” with a little giggle.

“You’re so cute,” Carlos mumbled against his lips before connecting them once again and Seb hummed in response. He couldn’t believe how lucky he was to be with this boy.

They spent the rest of the period making slow but steady progress with the choreography mixed in with what Seb considered a perfectly reasonable amount of kissing, before reluctantly heading to their final classes of the day.

.

As Carlos approached his locker after his last class, he spotted another sticky note and couldn’t help the grin that took over his face. He peeled the note off carefully, which said: “come (back) to the rehearsal room:) - valentine”

Carlos shoved the books he didn’t need inside the locker and made sure to stick the note onto the inside cover of his rehearsal binder with the other two for safe keeping. He hurried to the rehearsal room and heard the piano intro of “Beauty and the Beast” as he opened the door, grinning. “You know that we don’t have rehearsal today right?” he chuckled.

Seb stopped playing and smiled up at him across the room. “I know!”

“Ok…” Carlos chuckled, taking a few tentative steps forward and setting his bag down like Seb had just a few hours earlier.

“I just wanted to play this for you,” Seb beamed, and Carlos had to resist the urge to wrap him up in his arms then and there.

“The ‘Beauty and the Beast’ accompaniment?” Carlos asked, raising an eyebrow. “Seb, you know that I love you, but you don’t have to be thinking about this musical twenty-four-seven – I already do that.”

“No!” Seb laughed, “just shh and listen.”

“Ok, ok!” Carlos raised his hands in defense and leaned nonchalantly against the opposite side of the piano. Seb started to play and upon hearing the first notes, Carlos felt his heart stop for a moment. It was the song. Their song. Carlos hadn’t thought he had remembered it.

“It’s great to be in love on Valentine’s Day,” Seb started singing with his eyes closed, and Carlos was utterly enthralled. His lips parted involuntarily and he couldn’t take his eyes off of his boyfriend. “And it’s a wonder to be loved by you,” Seb sang, opening his eyes and startling Carlos with the emotional intensity of his stare.

It took Carlos several lines to mobilize what he was feeling, but he finally walked around the piano to sit on the bench next to Seb. He placed a careful kiss to his cheek and watched as he continued through the song. Carlos started to sing along when they reached the second verse and Seb immediately shut his mouth and whipped his head around to look at him with wonder in his eyes. Carlos felt the heat rising in his cheeks as Seb watched him, moving his fingers expertly over the keys without even looking at them. Carlos nudged Seb’s shoulder at the chorus and he joined in again, improvising a lower harmony.

Seb wrapped the song up with a little piano flourish and a giggle, looking up from the keys to see Carlos still looking at him. He cupped the curve of Seb’s jaw and pressed a kiss to his mouth. Seb’s hand flew up to the back of his neck and his other one interlocked with Carlos’ and rested on his thigh. Carlos felt a jolt of electricity run up his leg from the touch and he leaned in even closer. He hoped that his lips could express his feelings through his actions, since he couldn’t imagine articulating them into speech. They were far too monumental to be contained by words.

When they finally pulled apart, Carlos let out a sigh. “All of these things you did today, they were so sweet,” he began, “I feel bad because my gifts started and ended at the rose this morning…” He glanced down and offered a meek shrug.

“What are you talking about?” Seb put a hand on Carlos’ shoulder. “You’re the one taking me out to dinner tonight, remember?” he grinned and Carlos chuckled. “I just wanted to do a few things for you in return! And you gave me a sneak peek of my dance for the show, so honestly it feels like you’re the gift that keeps on giving.”

“How are you always so sweet?” Carlos asked incredulously. Seb blushed and shrugged, and Carlos relished the response. After letting the comfortable silence hang in the air for a few moments, he spoke up again. “It really is, isn’t it?” Seb cocked his head to the side inquisitively and pressed a soft kiss to the edge of Carlos’ mouth.

“Great. To be in love on Valentine’s Day,” Carlos supplied with a smile.

Seb grinned and Carlos didn’t know what it was, but he could feel something irreplaceably special about this moment. “I love you,” Seb replied, keeping his eyes locked on Carlos. There it was, Carlos realized, and for the first time in his life he felt like he understood the description of a feeling as ‘perfect.’

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you all enjoyed!! i really did not objectively have the time to write this, but i did anyway, so let me know what you think!


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